Expandable band

ABSTRACT

An expandable band is disclosed which is contracted to the closed position by magnetic means. A single continuous wire extends along the entire length of the band and has successive portions of coiled configuration forming a plurality of successive coils which have parallel axes and which are arranged in a zig-zag pattern to form a series of outer coils which alternate with a series of inner coils. The wire portions at the ends of each coil of one series extend in opposite directions to the next adjacent coils of the other series. The coils can be magnetized, or permanent magnets can be used with the coils.

[451 May 27, 1975 United States Patent [1 1 Tanaka RRAAw 5 mwmww France 954 956 Germany.............................v

Italy Italy Primary Examiner-Milton S. Mehr Assistant E.raminerGene P. Crosby Related U.S. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 206.746, Dec. 10, l97l, Pat. No. 3,798,729.

Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Steinberg & Blake ABSTRACT An expandable band is disclosed which is contracted [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 26. [970 45'H9l24 to the closed position by magnetic means. A single continuous wire extends along the entire length of the 59/79 R; g ig i band and has successive portions of coiled configura- Fieid 79 tron forming a plurality of successive coils which have 63/95 8 1 B 4 4 parallel axes and which are arranged in a zig-zag pattern to form a series of outer coils which alternate with a series of inner coils. The wire portions at the [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS ends of each coil of one series extend in opposite directions to the next adjacent coils of the other series.

2,679,147 63/5 R The coils can be magnetized, or permanent magnets can be used with the coils.

1,053,579 9/1953 France 63/5 R 3 Claims, 20 Drawing Figures 40 3 2 uflwwww. "w lee/Jag e... z? 3 z 1 551% g??? 5? a: 5% s 5% o A. W

if s ve n? a PATENTEUMAYZ'HQIS SHEET FIGM PATENTED MAY 2 7 I975 SHEET rllltfftlllflllfllllll IIlI/IIIIIIIIIIIIIII SHEET llllll'll'lll'll' EXPANDABLE BAND CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a division of copending application Ser. No. 206.746. now Pat. No. 3.798.729 filed Dec. 10. I971 and entitled A PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A HIGHLY RESILIENT AND PLIANT EXPANDABLE BAND."

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an expandable band of endless shape serving as a watch bracelet or magnetic bracelet and it is an object of the invention to provide a highly resilient and pliant product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:

In the drawings showing preferred embodiments of the present invention, FIG. I is a perspective view of an endless expandable band prepared by the process of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a watch bracelet. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the wire winding means to be applied in the present process. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a metallic wire to be formed into an endless expandable band by the aggregation of the larger and smaller coil groups. FIG. 5 is a from view thereof. FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the compressed condition modified from that of FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 7 is a front view thereof. FIG. 8 is an enlargcd sectional view showing the structure of the wire with wedge pins forcedly inserted into its coils, FIG. 9 is an enlarged front view of a wedge pin. FIG, 10 i a plan view thereof, FIG. II A is a plan view showing a steel coil band structure according to another embodiment of the invention and composed ofa series of coils having the same diameter, FIG. 11 B is an explanatory view illustrative of the coiling procedure to be applied in the formation of the structure according to FIG. II A. FIG. 12 is a plan view thereof. FIG. 13 showing a band-like expandable bracelet the winding process illustrated in FIGS. 11 and I2, FIG. 14 is a plan view thereof. FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing the expandable band of FIGS. 13 and I4 applied for a watch bracelet. FIG. 16 is a plan view showing an arrangement of magnetic poles and compressed windings in the magnetic band formed f mmmagnetizable metallic wires, FIG. 17 is a cross section thereof taken on line AA' of FIG. 16. FIG. 18 is a plan view showing an arrangement of the magnetic poles in the magnetic band and compressed winding prepared from magnetizable metallic wire. and FIG. 19 is an explanatory view illustrating the mode of magnetizatio of the magnetizable wire structure shown in FIG. 18.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to a process for the manufacture of an expandable band in a band shape or endless shape that is applied as a watch bracelet or a magnetic bracelet. and has for its object to provide a highly resilient and pliant product by applying a simple and efficient process.

The present invention resides in such a background that an annealed resilient metallic wire is wound repeatedly and continuously into a band-shaped or endless structure composed of a serie of closely adjacent coils having the same number of turns for each coil, so that every other coil is wound from top to bottom or vice versa and the interposed coil between such every is a plan view prepared by other coils is wound from bottom to top or vice versa; the structure thus obtained is then subjected to a compressive force from its periphery; wedge pins are then inserted into any desired coils and trimmed in their shape; and the overall structure is then subjected to quenching.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, certain preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail. A resilient metallic band 1 made from stainless steel wire. by way of an example. is coiled in a desired number of turns, forming the first coilla in starting from the top, by way of an example. as shown in FIG. 3. Then. the same steel wire I is coiled again in the same number of turns, forming the second coil 11) in starting from the bottom. Further. the third coil Ir is wound from the same steel wire I in the same number of turns. In this way, the steel wire is coiled further continuously so as to provide a series of adjacent coils Id, Ie, 1f, The coils of FIG. 3 may be considered as being formed starting from the left and progressing toward the right in FIG. 3 in such a way that the coil la is formed before the coil lb, and so on. with the convolutions of each coil being wound in a clockwise direction as viewed from above in FIG. 3. and it will be noted that the coils are arranged alternately to form a series of outer coils Ia. 1c, 12. and inner coils lb. Id. If. with the continuous wire progressing from the top convolution of coil In to the bottom convolution of coil lb. from the top convolution of coil lb, to the bottom convolution of coil 10. and so on. so that if the series of alternating inner and outer coils are considered as having corresponding opposed ends, it will be seen that the wire progresses from one of the opposed ends of an outer coil to the opposite opposed end of an adjacent inner coil, and then from the opposed end of the latter inner coil to the opposite end ofthe next outer coil. and so on. In this way the wire portions which interconnect the adjacent coils are arranged in such a way that at one of the series of inner or outer coils the wire portions cross each other while extending to the next adjacent coils while considered at the other series of inner or outer coils, the wires at the opposed ends of each coil diverge from each other while progressing to the next adjacent coils. In other words referring to FIG. 3 if it is considered that the coils lb, 1d, and 1f form suc cessive coils of the inner series, then the wire portions at the ends of these coils cross each other while extending in opposite directions to the next adjacent outer coils. whereas on the other hand if the coils 1a, 1c, and le are considered as being successive coils of the outer series then the wire portions at the ends of each of the latter coils diverge from each other while extending in opposite directions to the next adjacent inner coils. Both opposite ends of thus formed structure are connected to each other into a band-shaped or endless structure, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The endless structure thus obtained is subjected to a compressive force om its periphery. In this way. the adjacent coils of the endless structure are disposed inside and outside separately from each other so that every other coil is ar ranged inside the neighboring coils and the overall volume of the structure is considerably reduced (see FIGS. 6 and 7). Then, wedge or retained pins 2 are forced into any desirable coils thus arranged in a zigzag ment. Then the ends of the wedge pins 2 are enlarged in their diameters by upsetting so as to provide hulgcd rims 2' and retain the overall shape of the endless structure. The latter is then quenched in situ into the desired product as shown in FIG. 1. A modified process for the formation of the endless structure is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. According to this modified embodiment, the steel wire is wound repeatedly in the same way as before into a series ofmutually connected coils. Then, the steel wire is wound in the opposite direction starting from the last coil until overlapping on the first coil. FIGS. 13 and 14 show a product which has been completed following the step of compression. FIG. 2 shows thus obtained expandable band as mounted to a wristwatch.

Next, a process for the formation of a magnetic bracelet or a watch attached with a magnetic bracelet will be explained in detail. An elastic nonmagnetic metal wire, such as stainless steel wire, is wound repeatedly as before into an endless structure composed of a series of adjacent coils. The endless structure thus obtained is then subjected as before to the step of compression. Then a number of permanent magnet pieces 3 are forced into any desired coils, instead of wedge or retaining pins 2. Then, the ends of the permanent magnet pieces 3 are enlarged in their diameters by upsetting so as to provide flanges 3'. In this way, the permanent magnet pieces 3 are held in position and prevented from accidental disengagement. The overall structure is then subjected to quenching treatment. When the permanent magnet pieces 3 are forced into coils in a desired arrangement, as shown in FIG. 16, a north pole may be followed by a south pole or two successive north poles may be followed by two successive south poles.

When a magnetizable metal wire such as known under the trade name baicalloy is used as starting material, the same process of formation into a series of coils, compression and quenching will be used, as that explained in the first and second embodiments of the invention. The only difference is that the coils arranged lDSldE the endless structure are magnetized, by using a conventional apparatus as shown in FIG. 19, so that the north pole is followed by the south pole or two successive north poles are followed by two successive south poles. FIG. 15 shows a product completed according to this process.

The expandable band prepared by the present process is made in its entirety from a fine metal wire about 0.1 to 0.2 mm diameter. Thus, the band itself is highly pliant and resilient. By virtue of the wedge pins which are enlarged at their ends, the band is safeguarded against collapse. Moreover, since the expandable band is produced by the process of repeatedly coiling a single metallic wire, a considerable saving will be attained in the man power required for the manufacture, thus resulting in high operational efficiency. In addition, the production costs of the expansible band can be considerably reduced.

What is claimed is:

1. In an elastic, flexible band for a bracelet, wristwatch, or the like, which is capable of expanding and contracting, a single continuous wire extending along the entire length of the band and having successive portions of coiled configuration forming a plurality of successive coils which have parallel axes and which are arranged in a zig-zag pattern to form a series of outer coils which alternate with a series of inner coils, and the wire portions at the ends of each coil of one series ex tending in opposite directions to the next adjacent coils of the other series, a plurality of said wires being situated with their coils Coaxially arranged, and a plurality of retaining pins extending through at least some of the Coaxially arranged coils for holding them together, at least some of said retaining pins being in the form of permanent magnets.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein the pep manent magnets are arranged with at least some of said permanent magnets having a polar orientation which is opposed to others of said permanent magnets having a polar orientation which is opposed to others of said permanent magnets.

3. In an elastic, flexible band for a bracelet, wristwatch, or the like, which is capable of expanding and Contracting, a single continuous wire extending along the entire length of the band and having successive portions or coiled configuration forming a plurality of successive coils which have parallel axes and which are arranged in a zig-zag pattern to form a series of outer coils which alternate with a series of inner coils, and the wire portions at the ends of each coil of one series extending in opposite directions to the next adjacent coils of the other series, the wire being magnetic and at least some of the coils of one of said series being polarized to form north and south poles progressing along the band. 

1. In an elastic, flexible band for a bracelet, wristwatch, or the like, which is capable of expanding and contracting, a single continuous wire extending along the entire length of the band and having successive portions of coiled configuration forming a plurality of successive coils which have parallel axes and which are arranged in a zig-zag pattern to form a series of outer coils which alternate with a series of inner coils, and the wire portions at the ends of each coil of one series extending in opposite directions to the next adjacent coils of the other series, a plurality of said wires being situated with their coils coaxially arranged, and a plurality of retaining pins extending through at least some of the coaxially arranged coils for holding them together, at least some of said retaining pins being in the form of permanent magnets.
 2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein the permanent magnets are arranged with at least some of said permanent magnets having a polar orientation which is opposed to others of said permanent magnets having a polar orientation which is opposed to others of said permanent magnets.
 3. In an elastic, flexible band for a bracelet, wristwatch, or the like, which is capable of expanding and contracting, a single continuous wire extending along the entire length of the band and having successive portions or coiled configuration forming a plurality of successive coils which have parallel axes and which are arranged in a zig-zag pattern to form a series of outer coils which alternate with a series of inner coils, and the wire portions at the ends of each coil of one series extending in opposite directions to the next adjacent coils of the other series, the wire being magnetic and at least some of the coils of one of said series being polarized to form north and south poles progressing along the band. 